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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Review & Giveaway: Red Gold Tomatoes

Huh? I know right? Who gives away tomatoes?

Apparently, me.

But I’ll admit, when I first got the email I was not entirely thrilled at the idea. Tomatoes? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like tomatoes as much as the next guy and for runners, with Vitamins A, K, C and the antioxidant lycopene, it’s definitely something we want to include in our diets. For sure.

But really, who wants to win a can of tomatoes? Whoopidty doo.

Then I read on. Grown in Michigan (and a few other places too). You all know what a big fan of Michigan I am already (don’t make me get out some more Michigan Touristy Videos! I’ll do it. I swear). So I figured eh, sure. Let’s giveaway some tomatoes!

But then to my delight, let me show you folks what the good people over at Red Gold sent me:

That’d be a Red Gold bag, key chain, magnet, chip clip/magnet (I love those. Weird. I know. I just love having them around to randomly close bags of things I’m not finished with and can’t ever seem to have enough of them), and also recipe cards with various tomatoey soups on them. But that’s not all (and I’m sure you guessed that if you noticed that tiny little Red Gold box corner peeking out on the right there you little detective you)!

I also received a six pack of the tomato variety:

Including:

They were even thoughtful enough to NOT send me Go Lions! Ketchup (since it’s generally a sore subject around these parts at about this time of the year). But I’m still not done! I’ve saved the best for last. You see, I’ve got all these tomato products, but whatever will I do with them? Hmmm….

Well how about put them in a recipe or two from my handy dandy little new cook book:

And guys, I gotta tell you. This is a terrific little cook book. Nothing super hard to make in it, quite a few healthy recipes, lots of pictures, plenty of tips. I love it! Let’s take a little looksie inside shall we?

Mmmmmmmm….Tortellini Vegetable Salad. Carb loading anyone?

So I tested out my products by making Southwestern Pasta Bake with the tomatoes and green chiles (mild) and Nacho soup with the original variety. Both super yummy recipes out of the cook book (which I can’t really find online otherwise I’d share them with you. Guess you’ll have to try to win the cookbook eh?).

With the diced tomatoes, I made my own version of Chicken Rice Soup which was sooooooo good. So good it was gone before I knew what happened. I’m going to post that recipe with you all tomorrow. My husband asbolutely loved it.

And since I really wanted to try out this Tomato Basil Chicken recipe that I saw in the book too, I went and bought a can of Red Gold diced tomatoes with olive oil and garlic and made it. My husband thought it was pretty good, but I thought it was absolutely delicious (sidenote: I actually bought the wrong rice and made it with an herbed long grain and wild rice and chicken broth instead of water. And ok, I also was supposed to use Italian tomatoes but my store didn’t carry them. That’d be the RunMom Screw Up but Surprisingly Still VERY Tasty Version).

As for the Mama Selita’s Jalepeno Ketchup. Well, to be honest we dipped burnt baked seasoned french fries in it, a new recipe I was trying that wasn’t supposed be, well, burnt. The ketchup was good, the fries, not so much. The ketchup was about the only thing that made some of the “less crispy” fries edible. So maybe not an entirely fair way to evaluate the product, but evaluated and approved nonetheless.

And the sloppy joe mix? Ok, on this I first have to admit, I hate sloppy joes. Seriously. I can remember my husband pretty early on in our marriage asking me “hey? How come you never make sloppy joes?” and my thought was, “My God. Who is this man that I’ve married? Who would ever choose to eat those on purpose?” It just seems to me a little more like something you’d eat in prison. You know, because your only other option was starving. But I wanted to give you all a fair assessment, so I decided I’d go ahead and try to choke one down, which I did. Actually, two. Still not going to be my go to meal, but at least it wasn’t my go get something else meal. And as far as sloppy joes are concerned that’s about the best you’re going to get in my book.

All that, PLUS look how you can recycle your Red Gold carrying case once you’re finished with it!

What more could you possibly ask for from your tomato company hmmm???

So TWO of you very lucky readers will be randomly selected to win a Red Gold care package of your very own to enjoy. Here’s how you enter:

REQUIRED:

You must be a follower of this blog. If you’re not it’s too hard to find you. So head over there, to the right sidebar and sign up. It’ll take about two seconds. Once you do, leave me a comment so I know you belong here and you’ll get one entry automatically into the contest. SCORE!

3. Tell somebody somehow somewhere about this contest. Blog, tweet, update your Facebook status, send an email, call your best friend, write a message to your neighbors in the snow, whatever you can think of that’ll help spread the word. You’ll score one entry for each method. So no you can not just tell 5 people you know. That’s all the same method. Word of mouth. That would only count for one. (Limit 5 entries)

4. Send me a recipe I can post on my blog for my soon to be created Runners’ Recipes section (or some other crafty name, that’s all I got off the top of my head at the moment). Email it to me at runfastmommy@gmail.com if it won’t fit in your comment. Bonus entry if your recipe uses Red Gold Tomatoes.

So that would be a maximum total of 10 entries per person. And don’t forget if you are ALREADY following me on Twitter and/or Facebook that counts too. Just leave me a comment to let me know all the ways you’ve entered (only one comment is necessary) no later than Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 11:59:59 PM. I’ll draw two winners and announce them the next day. Method of winner selection: hat, bowl, paper, teeny toddler and pre-schooler hands. You know the drill.

Best of luck!

P.S. I almost forgot! On the send me a recipe method of entry, I’ll be sure to give you credit so include a name (just first or a made up alias will suffice) and if you’d like a link back to your blog or website, leave me that too :-).

Love the recycling idea ! I might have to go over to the red gold site and buy that tomato cookbook...I saw it on their website and after looking through yours..I might just have to get one of my own. Really great looking recipes.

I follow your blog via GFC and I like you on Facebook. Trying to incorporate more veggies into my diet and am looking at running blogs for inspiration to move faster than my usual walk with the dog.susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com

RunNana-My mom, a junior high teacher, and breast cancer survivor who started running when she was 54. You'll meet her in the comments. She reads every single post I write. Probably to make sure I stay out of trouble.

Mobile Mile Marker, Mighty Mole Man, Papa- My dad, who last year rode his bicycle 100 miles (at once) to see if he could, but's also gracious enough to lolligag around with me oh his bike, mark the miles and chase the pervs away on my long runs

RunSis- The one & only, my little sis. Marathoner in the making & the mom I hope to one day grow up to be